Helical cutting apparatus



March 14, 1961 J. w. KOZAK HELICAL CUTTING APPARATUS John BY March 14, 1961 w, Z K 2,974,705

HELICAL CUTTING APPARATUS Filed June 19, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VE OR See . 2,914,1os HELICAL John W. Kozak, Kenosha, Win, assignor to Frank L. Wells Company, Kenosha, Wisg, a'corporat ion of Wis-l com Filed June 19,:1956,=Ser.5 92,3tl2 l bling and holding thecoil springsin assembledrelation includes the use'of wire helicals which arefed along between rows of coils. so as to connect the individual coils in a row and also to'connect coilsadjacent to each other in the parallel'rows. Suchhelicals extend the full length of the rows and the ends of the heli'cals are cut off adjacent the ends of the rows. In certain machines andmethods, heretofore used the cut ends have been flattened in the endeavor to avoid these cut ends catching on material used in covering the coils or onadjacent spring assemblies when the bare springsare shipped. It is customary in the trade for the spring assemblies to be made in one factory and then shipped to another factory for covering and assembling in mattresses, cushions or furniture. For such shipment it is the general practice to superpose a plurality of spring assemblies, compact them under heavy pressure and fasten them in compacted relation. This results in savings in freight or transportationcosts. It has been found in practice, however, that, when the springs are compactedthere is a tendency for the cut ends to interlock with other coils which renders the compressed bale of springs diflicult to separate.

It is an object of the present inventionto provide a new and improved helical cutting and end forming apparatus.

It 'isa further object to provide apparatus of this character which forces the cut end i-ntothe adjacent end turn of the helical which protects the cut end and prevents its engaging adjacent springs or material.

It is an additional object to provide such apparatus which is simple in design, construction and operation 2,974,705 Patented Mini 14, 1961 i'icei 2 The apparatus is shown as mounted on a platform 11 which directly supports the base member 13 of the'apparatus itself. The basemember 13 is provided-with lateral'upstanding wallportions 15 to which the side support members 17 are adjdstably secured by means of machine screws 19. These machine screws 19. pass through elongated slots 21.111 the wall portions 15' soj as to permitadjustment of the location of the support members .17. The support members v17 are provided with aligned openings 23 which carry the transverse axle 25;

' The movable member 27 is pivotally supported on the,

axle 25ja'nd carriesat its left end, asseen in the draw-' ings the fixed knife blade 29.. This blade is held in place'by means .of set screws 31, The right end of.

memberz'l carries a short axle 33 upon which is mounted a camroller 35.

of Figure 3, but showing the parts in the position at n which the cutting takes place; and

Figure Sis a fragmentary plan view illustrating the shearing action of the movable blade with the fixed blade.

The linearly movable member 37 is movable in guide. ways formed in the inner faces of the support members 17 and is slidable at an angle of about approximately ten degrees to thehorizontala The rear end, of the movable slide 37 is connected by pin 39 to yoke 41 which, in turn, is connected to the piston rod 43. This piston rod coacts with a piston in the power cylinder 45 which is secured to bracket 47. Bracket .47 is secured to'the' platform 11 by screws 49. The cylinder 45 is a doubleacting cylinder supplied with fluid under pressure through, pipes 51 and 53. v I

The upper face of the slide 37 carries the cam member 55 which has a base portion 57' connected to the slideby set screws 59. The cam 55 has a forward inclined rise 61, anintermediate dwell 63 and. a second inclined rise 65. n The forward end of the linearly movable slide 37 carries the movable knife 67 which is secured in-a slot in the upper face of the slide by means of set screw (not shown).

The upper face of the base member 13 is provided with a plurality. of angular grooves or recesses 69,. spacedv and inclined to receive convolutions of the helical 71, shown in position in Figures 3 and 4. Itis also provided with a recess 73 into which the end of the helical may be bent and the cut olf end of the helical may drop afterv it is severed. The coil springs which are interconnected. by the helical 71 are shown at in the drawings.

'In the operation of the apparatus the helical and its connected springs are placed in position, as shown in the applied through the cylinder 45. As the first rise 61 of the cam 55 engages roller 35, the pivoted member 27 is rocked in the counter-clockwise direction about the axis of the axle member 25. The firstfunction of this movement is to cause the lower face of the endv 28 of member 27 to press down upon the adjacent .turns ofthe helical 71 and retain the helical firmly in position in the grooves 69. In this position at least a portion of a turnv of the helical will be located in front of the cutting edge 30 of the fixed knife 29 and under the shoulder 32 of that knife. The slide 37 continues moving to the' left and as the roller ,35 encounters the intermediateporjtion 63 of the cam 55, the .heli,c al,71 isfirmlyv heldbythe.

portion 28 and additionally the end portion 72 0f the helical will be pressed downwardly into recess 73 by the action of the shou1der'32'on' said end portion." Thus the end portion of the helical clears the advancing movable blade 67. Said blade 67 continues its forward movement and presently engages the helical immediately ad- 0 jacent the lateral cutting edge 30 provided by the memapparatus being best illustrated in Figures 1 and 5. Further movement of the slide 37 with the roller 35 rolling on the upper face of cam 55 to the position shown in Figure 3 causes the face of the movable blade 67 to force the severed end of the helical 71 downwardly and inwardly of the last full turn of the helical. The severed end portion of the helical will drop into recess 73 andv since the apparatus is normally positioned with the base 13 inclined at a transverse angle, these severed ends will drop from the recess 73 into a properly placed receptacle. The slide 37 is retracted by means ofcylinder 45 preparatory to the next operation of the apparatus.

The present apparatus is adapted for attachment to machines for assembling the spring coils 75 and for threading through the helicals. These machines normally have their beds inclined transversely and the base 13 would be placed at the end of such bed at the same inclination. It will be understood that'one of these devices would normally be placed at each end of the machine so as to simultaneously sever and force inwardly the opposite ends of a helical. Machines of the character described for assembling the springs are well known in the art and their construction forms no part of the present invention. For that reason they have not been shown and need not be described in further detail.

While I have shown a preferred construction of my apparatus, this is to be understood to be illustrative only as it is capable of variation to meet differing conditionsand requirements and for attachment to various types of coil assembly machines. I therefore contemplate such modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for cutting and forming the ends of helicals comprising a base member, a movable member pivotally supported on the base member, means for swinging said movable member about its pivot to move an end portion thereof toward and away from the base,

a cutting blade carried by said end portion of the movable member and extending toward the base, a linearly mov able member movable between the base and the pivoted movable member, a second cutting blade carried by said linearly movable member and coacting with'the blade carried by the pivoted movable member for severing the end of a helical, and a cam carried by the linearly movable member and coacting with the pivoted movable. member to swing said end portion toward the base member to clamp the end turns of a helical between said end portion and the base.

2. Apparatus for cutting and forming the ends of helicals comprising a base member, a movable member pivotally supported on the base member, means for swinging said movable member about its pivot to move an end portion thereof toward and away from the base, a cutting blade carried by said end portion of the movable member and extending toward the base, a linearly movable member movable between the base and the pivoted movable member, a second cutting blade carried by said linearly movable member and coacting with the blade carried by the pivoted movable member for severing the end of a helical, and a cam carried by the linearly movable member and coacting with the pivoted movable member to swing said end portion toward the base member to clamp the end turns of a helical between said end portion and the base and to swing the cutting blade carried by said end portion adjacent the path of the second cutting blade so that continued linear movement of the second cutting blade severs an end of the helical.

3. Apparatus for cutting and 'forming the ends of helicals comprising a first gripping member and a second gripping member and which form a pair of members havof the helical gripped between said pair of members, a

cam carried by the linearly movable member, and said cam having operation to engage said first gripping member upon movement of the linearly movable member in a certain direction to cause said gripping action of the pair of members on the end portion of the helical.

4. Apparatus for cutting and forming the ends of helicals including a. base member, said base member providing arcuate grooves for receiving convolutions of a helical and having a rearwardly located recess for accommodating the terminal 'end of the helical, a movable member pivotally supported on the base member for movement towards and from said grooves and recess, said movable member having a forward nose portion positioned directly over the grooves and having a cutting edge providing a shoulder located above and adjacent the recess, a linearly movable member located and mounted for movement between the base member and the said pivoted movable member, a cutting blade provided by the linearly movable member and adapted on a cutting stroke to coact' with the cutting edge of the pivoted movable member, and a cam fixed to the linearly movable member for effecting pivotal movement of the pivoted movable member, said cam having a plurality of cam surfaces for progressively moving the pivoted movable member toward the base member to a predetermined limit as the linearly movable member reciprocates in a forward direction, whereby the nose portion is initially caused to grip and hold the helical with certain of its convolutions within the grooves and. with its terminal end portionwithin the recess, and the shoulder is then caused to engage and depress the terminal end portion of the helical into the recess so as to locate it out of the path of the cutting blade, and whereby the cutting edge is thereafter so located as to have coaction with the cutting blade for severing the end portion of the helical.

5. Apparatus for cutting and forming the ends of helicals as defined by claim 4, additionally including a power cylinder for reciprocating the linearly moving member, and wherein the cutting blade continues in its forward movement following the severing of the end portion of the helical and is effective to engage and thrust the severed end within an adjacent turn of the helical.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 392,616 Lieb Nov. 13, 1888 454,554 Wright June 23, 1891 528,738 Pfouts Nov. 6, 1894 821,970 Youngstrom May 29, 1906 1,930,715 Hever Oct. 17, 1933 2,161,689 Stranberg June 6, 1939 2,198,501 Kmentt Apr. 23, 1940 2,678,099 Provence May 11, 1954 2,730,142 Beberich Jan. 10, 1956 

